Vanity Insanity!

I normally have pretty good luck with pictures, I smile and everything usually turns out ok!

This has NOT been the case with pictures for my promotional material! It is literally making me crazy! I have a healthy amount of vanity but I don't obsess about how I look...UNTIL NOW!

I recently had some new head-shots taken, the original ones my husband took for me (the chosen one is on my business card and on my FaceBook Like Page) is not a high enough resolution and doesn't print well...which is too bad because I like that picture! It was 1 of 2 acceptable (to me) shots out of 75!!!!!!!
Oh the Humanity!

Now I'm getting a wrap on the rear window of my vehicle and the obsessing continues! The lovely and patient Caitlin Cameron of CH Photography & Imaging took A LOT of pictures during our session! The critical self-talk goes something like this...I look too frumpy, my hair looks funny, the collar of my shirt is messed up, I wish I was wearing something different and WHAT is up with the dark circles under my eyes!!! Caitlin & PhotoShop came to the rescue on the dark circles luckily...MUST get more sleep!!!

I'm honestly not that comfortable with focusing so hard on this, it's making me feel ridiculous  but I can't seem to help myself! Particularly with the car wrap which will be highly visible!

Here is the final proof for my window wrap...soon to be seen at a Tim Horton's drive thru near you, lol...

I wanted a casual, friendly & approachable vibe instead of the "stiff" typical Realtor pose and I hope that that's what I've ended up with...I think it's more in tune with my personality.  I hope this works out because it's being installed today and I've got to live with it for the next year until my lease is up!!!

Now to focus on watching my P's&Q's while on the road! I want people to call me because they want to hire me, not because they want to complain about my driving, lol!!!!!

So tell me what you think...

Until Next Time…

Kelly

5 Things I've Learned From Open Houses

Excuse the long absence I’ve been suffering from a little writer’s block!

I’ve been keeping myself super busy hosting open houses for the past month!  I love the research that goes into preparing for each one; what else is available in the neighbourhood (and previewing the competition whenever possible) what’s sold, comparable properties available in different neighbourhoods etc.

So far I’ve been in North Bowmanville, South Bowmanville, North Whitby & North Oshawa and it’s truly fascinating  learning all the nitty gritty details of each area!  The goal of course is to be able to answer questions from visitors and to be knowledgeable about the marketplace! So lesson #1 is know everything, lol!

This leads me to the 2^nd thing I’ve learned which is to be a little more safety conscious!  An example would be the Open House I hosted yesterday!  In my quest to be as much of a know-it-all as possible I set out to investigate the actual age of the furnace.  The listing had it as “newer” and “upgraded” and I wanted to know what that actually meant as it’s something that I’m always asked!

So I’m down in the basement, can’t find the light in the furnace room although I can see the overhead fixtures ~sigh~…I’ve got my trusty flashlight and I’m sort of crawling around in my cute little Open House outfit and in walks a gentleman (into the furnace room!!) scaring me to death and potentially putting myself and the home at risk! I was cornered in a dark secluded space with no secondary exit, so bad on so many levels!   So lesson #2 is do not put the sign out front and unlock the door until I am prepared to greet visitors at the door!  Luckily in this case the gentleman was part of a couple and they turned out to be lovely people but it could just as easily have turned into a very bad situation!

Lesson #3 is really just an observation…other drivers get REALLY mad if you try to pull over to put a directional sign at the corner of a busy intersection!!!

Lesson #4 is proofread your promotional material and then proofread it AGAIN before you send it to the printer’s!  I did up beautiful feature sheets for yesterday’s property but left off the asking price….then had to figure out how to get it on there using my own printer without reprinting everything entirely!

Another example is a short informational video I did on YouTube for the 1^st time to promote an Open House; everything turned out great except the map I attached was for Paris, France!  How that happened is beyond me, lol, but there was no way to edit the video and by the time I figured out the error there was no time to make a new video!

Here’s a link for your viewing pleasure:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF7dUG40dZw

Lesson #5 is I LOVE OPEN HOUSES!!! I love talking to people, I love being prepared with the right information and you can bet that lessons 2 & 4 will be heeded for next time!

I love my job and I can’t wait for next weekend!

 

Got an Open House story? Please share it!

Until Next Time…

Kelly